Rail-joint.



L. A. CLAPP.

RAIL JOINT.

Pa1en1ed"111ay 16, 1916.

2 SHEETS-'SHEET 1 lllllllilllll'l IIIIIIIIIIIII formen 'LEWIS ARTHUR dem: Oeffeleeeof @Heelal 1,183,798. e 1 l vsreaeenjfLeckereieni g `Patente(iaravie,191e. y

Applicationlfuedqenmry 28,1916. 'fseriaino-7il75e` To @ZZ whom it mag/concern.' j the support is weakened 21nd,4 on the other Beit known that I, Lewis ARTHUR CLA-Pr, hand,'junip if the gstrle'ngthof the support is a citizen of the United States, residingat suddenly increased. *,What has happened in Chicago,` in the county of Cook and State .structures ofthepast has been that a solid 5 of Illinois, have invented a certain new and rigid clamping device was applied to the y60 useful lmprovement in Bail-Joints, of which ends of the rail extending backfroin twelve the following isa specification. to eighteen inches from the joint over the This invention is a new and improved rail joint, ties, thereby greatly strengthening, and t joint, intended to make a railroad track stiidening the twelve or eighteen inchesof 1 0 which is substantially as smooth for the pas'- rail immediately adjacent to the joint, or if 65 sage of trains over the joints in the rails as they did not extend over the joint ties they vinother parts of the rails, both when the werefof uniform rigidity throughout, the track is first laid and at vsubstantially all result'being that when a heavy wheel traveltimes later in its life, ,ing from the middle of the rail toward the 1,5 As it is for many reasons absolutely necesend and creating the wave movement above `70 sary to make railroad track yof a plurality ,describedin the rail toward its end, abruptly of rails of convenient length bothfor manureaches the inner end ofthis heavyy reinfacture and transport-ation, it is necessary forcement, the uniformly yieldingsupport to have between adjacent' rails placed end of the normal rail and the Wave motonre- '2K0 to end a slight space, and to bridge that sulting therefrom was rudely broken,and 75 Space with a Splicing device 111th@ past, kthe support being stronger than the normal these splicing devices have been of such a lfnii, che LWheel Was. thrown upward or character that when the trackhas been in lumped, landing, in the forward movement `use a little time the passing wheels pound O the tram, ageln -Onthe rail' at apoint t :j f2.5 down and Hatten these rail ends, the trouble 'Velfy 010s@ t9 the eetllel UDCUIe Of thetWO 280 increasing with the age of the track. It edleeent m11 entiS, the Ap oui'id thus created 'has heretofore been generally supposed that Heffi-@11mg the/T2111 ends Hl the'melne; de- :this flattening of the'rail ends Vis due sim- Seflbed :110i 2LS hee heretofore been Supply to the lack of lcontinuous support for posed due-tothe fact that thereis a slight 15213,!) 'the circumferences of the car Wheels as they epilee between the rail ends, but to this jump- 85 pass over the slight spaces between the rail @geef the Wheel fille t0 lEile Sudden Varieten @debut I have found that this is not the fln'the' Supporting power ofthe rail imme- .true cause oftheflattening of the rail ends. ,dletely edlent t0 the e1df When a rug or carpet is laid upon a floor 1 The object Of this invention is to provide i315 and a heavy object is passed over it, this n CleVce CODSIllCted in eccclclence With thiS ,90 'passing object tends'to bunch up the pornew theory Which does away with the jump- `tions of therug or carpet in front of it ina -ing -of lthe wheels` of the passingy train as -sort of a wave not unlike a water wavewhieh they eplleeeh the mil l0ltS thus Sewing is, of course, finally attened out as the ob- 'the *Hattening Of the rail 'ends adjacent to $.40 jcct reaches the edge of the carpet. Exactly thefjoint and doingaway with the itremen- 95 the same sort of thing tends to take place as clous expense occasioned kby thenecessity 0f `the heavy Wheels 0f a locomotive pags-along frequent rail renewals and frequent ballasta railroad rail. if the rail is @f unifOI-m ing to overco'irne the settling ofthe track at strength throughout its length, this 'wave the Teil lOIl'S end S0 forth f45`1notion or tendency to wave motionin the 'The invention `consists vin adevice capable i100 f. rail is uniform and the rail offers a uniform of holding the n-actual ends; of the adjacent supportto the passingwheel throughout its railsin fixed properhorizontal and vertical l Ilength without jump lor j ar vby the 'passing relationship to each other without impairing -wheels. If, however, the rails'of the'track `the normal :elasticity ofthe rail.v This per- LrO are not of substantially uniform structure mits the normal wave motion ofthe'rail un- 105 fandI weight'sustaining strength, this wave '.derthe action ofagiven'wheelpassing over,

:emotion along the rail is interferedwith land ato Vtravelthroughout the entire length of the thezpassing.wheels cease to be so uniformly Teil end'hlls Prevents' all jumping 0f the supported," as f described, fand therefore, rail',aslie1et0f01`ekdescribed.' ',l :l

C15i5isettle downward toomuchifithelstrength of l2xflfhezfinventionifurther: consists thefea- "110 Y ing members removed a sectional `half inches apart.

" will be noticed by that the portions of member 20 which are vthe lunder sides of the head tures and details of construction which will be hereafter more fully described in the specification and claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which simiindicate the same parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a side viewof two rail ends joined together by a device illustrating this invention in its preferred form. Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is view taken on the line 3 8 of Fig. '1. Fig. 4 is the line 4-4 of Fig. l, with a'slight illustrative modification to be hereafter described. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of thesplicing members removed from the rail ends. Fig. 6 is a sectional view of a portion of the rail and portions of the splicfrom the lower centralportion of Fig. 4 and enlarged.

Fig. l shows two adjacent rail ends l0 and l2 to be spliced, the same being supported on two ties 14 and 16, preferably placed the standard distance ofabout twelveand one- The splice members proper, one for each side of the joint, consist, broadly speaking, of a central member 18, rigidly connected to a horizontally extending plate 20 provided with suitable holes `22 and 24 through which the usual bolts 26 and 28 respectively pass to secure the device to the rail ends. Each member 18 is preferably made of considerably less `length than the distance between the ties 14 and 16; in practice,

about six inches, or three inches each side of the space 30. It an inspection of Fig. 3

beyond the ends of member 18, lettered for convenience' 20a, have no bearing on the flange of the rail, though they do bear upon of the rail, thus giving the head of the rail what support the bolts'Q-G or 28, as the case may be, can afford. This stiffens the rail end somewhat, but'not as muchas the central splice to be y hereafter described and this affords a graduation in supporting power from the normal rail to the central splice. On the other jhand, the central-portion of the member 20, lettered for convenience 20",

not only bears against the under side of the head of the'rail in the line 32 (Fig. 4), but is also brought down to bear against the upper side of the adjacent rail flange in the' line 34 (Fig.`4) These two lines or surfaces'32 and '34 are angularly inclined toward the web 'of the `rail and as the l member 2Ob is forced in the same 'direction through the action of the `bolts 24'and 26, we have this member 20b rigidly inchesof length, which length extends over the space 80 between the rail ends, as heretofore described; thus, for this six inches, more or less, .securing the ends of the vrail a sectional detail view onengaging the rail throughout its six f heads in direct kalinement one with the other. Thus, the outer end portions 20 of member 20 reinforce or stiffen the rail to a substantially less degree as heretofore described, whereby the wave motion created by a wheel passing over the rail travels right up to the rail end without any sudden change.

The device thus far described would be very eiicient in practice and very valuable, but due to the wave motion heretofore described, there might be a tendencyto wear along the surfaces 32, heretofore described, and in order to combat this it is preferable to apply to the base of each central portion of each splice member, heretofore described, the member 18, clearly shown in the drawings, extending around the extreme outer edge 36 of the adjacent rail flange and made, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, with a wedge shaped opening 38 which, when the device is driven in place, rigidly clamps the outer edge 36 only of the rail flange. This gripping of the edge 36 of the rail flange prevents rotation of the member 20b about a center at 38', (Fig. 4) and thus prevents lateral movement of the adjacent parts along the surfaces of contact 32, heretofore described, and does away with wear at that point, thus insuring each member 20b in its work of reinforcing the rail ends for the three inches, more or less, on each side of the space 30, in themanner heretofore described.

In the operation of the device, the parts are applied and assembled in the position shown in the drawings, and made clear by the preceding description. When a wheel of a loaded car passes along either rail 10 or rail 12 from outside the view of Fig. 1, it finds the rail on which it is traveling of substantially uniform strength and elasticity until it reaches the outer end of members 20. Here for the length of end portion 20a the rail is stiffened but not sufficient to cause the wheel to jump accustomed to this change in the supportingstrength of thek rail without jump and it is, therefore, prepared to reach and travel over the central portion of the device which, as described, is still stiffer than the end 4portions without jump. The same changes occur in reversed order as the wheel moves from the center of the next rail.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

the splicing device onto and it, therefore, becomes l. In a device of the class described, the

its central portion engaging the under side of the head of the rail and the top of the flange of the rail and in its end portion engaging only the under side of the head of the rail.

2. A device of the class described, the combination of two rail ends to be joined, a splice member extending along said rails for a distance on opposite sides of the point of junctureof the rails, means securing the splice member to the end portion of each rail, said splice member in its central portion bearing against the under side of the head of the rail and the top of the ilange of the rail and in its end portion engaging only the under side of the head of the rail.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of two rail ends to be joined, a splice member extending along said rail ends for a distance on opposite sides of their point of juncture, said splice member throughout substantially its entire length engaging the under sides of the heads of the adjacent rail ends while it only bears upon the tops of the flanges of the adjacent rail ends for a shorter distance on each side of their point of juncture.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination of two rail ends to be joined, a splice member extending along said rail ends for a distance on opposite sides of their point of juncture, means securing the splice member to the end portion of each rail, said splice member throughout substantially its entire length engaging the under sides of the heads of the adjacent rail ends while it only bears upon the tops of-the flanges of adjacent rail ends for a shorter distance on each side of their point of juncture.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of two rail ends to be joined, a splice member extending along the rails for a distance on yopposite sides of the point of juncture of said rail ends, said splice member in its central portion engaging the under sides of the heads of the rails andthe tops of the flanges of the rail and in its end portions engaging only the heads of the rails, the splice device being normally located over the space between two adjacent ties on which the rail ends are supported, and the central portion of the splice member being of less length than the distance between the ties.

6. In a device of the class described, a

rail splice member consisting of a substantially straight bar adapted to lie under the head of a railk and throughout substantially the length of the bar to bear against the rail head, means for securing'said bar to the rrail, there being at the central portion of this bar a member which of substantially less length than the bar, takes bearing upon the surface of the flange of the rail and is locked against rotation toward or from the rail by engaging the outer edge of the rail flange.

7. In a device of the class described, in combination with two rail ends abutting each other, a splice member placed over the point of juncture of the rail ends having a vertical member bearing at its top against .the under edges ofthe heads of the adjacent rail ends and clearing the webs of the rails down to a point adjacent to the flanges of the rails where it takes bearing on the webs of the rails, thereby allowing rotation of said vertical member toward the rail webs as wear takes yplace between the top of said grip the under edges of the heads of therailsl and the edges of the rail flanges for the purposes set forth. i

8. In a device of the class described, in combination with two rail ends abutting each other, an angular splice member a`djustably secured to said rails, applied over the sides of adjacent ends of the rails, bearing against the under sides of the heads of the rails and the outer edges of the anges of the rails and pivoted against intermediate portions of the rails to allow rotation toward the rail webs as wear takes place at the contacts with the rail heads and flanges.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

LEWIS ARTHUR OLAPP.

Witnesses:

DWIGHT B. CHEEVER, kM. S. RosENzwEIG.

Copies o! thjs'patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of'Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

